The Avatar and the Jinchuriki
by GhostQueen187
Summary: How did Gaara get so wise before Shippuden? Meeting a pacifistic monk certainly helped. Who knew rescuing a flying bison would get him friendships that lasted a lifetime?
1. Chapter 1

Gaara was sitting in his room meditating when his sister Temari walked in. "Uh hey Gaara," she said slightly awkward. Ever since their return from the Leaf Village Gaara had tried to form better relationships with his siblings. It was working for the most part however they were still slightly wary of him which was to be expected. "What is it that you need?" Gaara asked his sister. Temari rubbed the back of her neck grinning sheepishly "Well Baki was wondering if you could deliver this scroll to one of the outside villages in the Wind," Temari said handing him a scroll "There were said to be a lot of sandstorms recently so Baki thought it would be safer to send you." Gaara blinked before nodding standing up and walking past Temari in order to pack his things for the trip.

"And Gaara?" Temari asked causing Gaara to turn around and stare at her expectantly "be careful out there okay? you may be powerful but your still my little brother." Gaara stared at her in slight shock before his expression changed into a slight smile "I will," he said curtly before walking to his room to pack his things. As he was packing the essentials (food, water, vitamins) he couldn't help but stare. His bed was neat and looked like it hadn't been touched in years (which it probably hadn't seen as he didn't sleep) and had small cobwebs sticking out on it. Gaara's eyes widened slightly when he saw a small butterfly stuck in the web. Gaara walked over gently grabbing the butterfly in his hand before walking over to his window and releasing it.

"Uh, Gaara?" Gaara turned to see his brother Kankuro staring at him. It was obvious he had seen what he just did. Gaara looked at him with his usual stoic look. "Baki was wondering if you were ready to go?" Gaara nodded before following after his brother. They walked in silence not knowing what to say to one another until Kankuro broke it. "So uh nice weather we are having today," Kankuro said before immediately wincing at the awkwardness of that statement. "Yes it is...pleasant," Gaara stated causing Kankuro to sigh with relief. The two remained in a more comfortable silence after that.

When they finally arrived at the gate they were met by Temari and Baki who were obviously waiting for him. "I hope you finish this as soon as possible," Baki told him "we have much to discuss upon your return. Gaara nodded before turning to face his siblings "see you later," he told them. Kankuro gave him a crooked smile before ruffling his hair playfully "take care little bro," Gaara gave him a light smile. If Gaara was still the same person he once was he would have killed Kankuro for not only touching him but for calling him 'little bro' as well. "I will," Gaara said before turning off and walking into the harsh desert.

He had been walking for hours when he discovered a small crack in one of the rocks. Curious Gaara walked towards it. The rock looked fairly average but the crack, on the other hand, looked completely unnatural. Gaara gently ran his hand over the crack "it's warm," he said pulling his hand back a thoughtful look on his face. "It almost feels alive." Gaara went to run his hand over it again when he felt a strange pulling sensation coming from the crack. Silghtly paniced Gaara went to pull his hand back but found that he couldn't. Gaara was about to call his sand to crush the rock and hopefully the crack with it when he felt the tugging sensation tug him into the crack.

As he was falling through the crack he saw millions of shapes and colours. What was happening to him? When he finally landed he studied his suroundings before sighing with relief. it appeared the crack didn't take him anywhere. "It must have been a Genjustsu or something," he said rubbing his head before standing up. **"You're wrong sand brat!"** the cheerful voice of Shukaku said finally making himself known. Gaara frowned. _"What do you mean by that?"_ Gaara asked the tailed beast in his head. The beast snorte **"That crack was a soft spot between the spirit world and the real world or one of them when you touched it it sensed your spiritual energy aka me and sucked ya right in!"** he said in his normal sadistic voice. Gaara looked around _"this does not looked like the spirit world nor does it have spirits are you sure you are correct?"_ Shukaku seemd to fume at that **"I wasn't finished yet you ungratful brat! anyway once you got in the spirit world it sensed your puny human life force and spat you back out in another dimension!"** shukaku growled.

Gaara couldn't help but let out a snort _"and lets pretent that I actually believe you which I don't where do you suppose we are?"_ Shukaku seemed to think **"Well given the energy signitures I can sense I would say we are in that puny benders universe"** _"Bender?"_ **"Yeah the people hear have the ability to bend one element depending on where they live,"** Gaara frowned slightly suspicious _"You're being odly helpful today."_ Shukakusniffed **"Well excuse me if I don't want my host to go running around with out a clue and embarissing me in front of the other spirits, besides we share the same body whatever happens to you happens to me too."**

Gaara nodded excepting his answer for now and began to walk. Their was no use standing here when he could at least try and get out of the desert before figuring out a way home. The heat from the sun barely bothere him considering he grew up in a desert. If anything deserts made him comfortable because of all the sand. Gaara frowned when he heard a loud roaring noise followed by shouting. Curious Gaara descided to investigate. Gaara closed one eye and sent his sand out to find out what was happening. It seemed that a group of people, male going by appearance were trying to drag a large animal through the desert while two more were trying to force a mussel on the large creature. Gaara canceled his jutsu opening his eye once more with a slight gleam. Although he had no desire to kill these men the fought of fighting always did excite him.

Without a word Gaara walked towards the group of men and the large creature. When the men finally noticed him they seemed to smirk. One man stepped forward obviously the leader and smirked down at him patronizingly "hey kid how about you give us everything you got and we forget about you interupting out business eh?" Gaara narrowed his eyes at the man "Business? this does not look like business to me it looks like kidnapping and it is my duty as a ninja to stop you." The men around him laughed "you stop us? if you hadn't noticed we outnumber you ten to on-" the man's eyes widened in horror when he noticed a giant wave of sand coming towards him and his men. "Sand Tsunami!" Gaara shouted sending the wave of sand towards them. The men tried to bend it away but were unsuccessful and were buried under the sand with just their heads sticking out. **"Oh come on Gaara! Kill them! Kill them all! you saw what they were doing with that animal! they deserve it!"** _"No"_ Gaara told Shukaku as he walked towards the men _"if what you've told me about these benders is true than their skills are barely above a civillians which means I will not kill them, i will not be that person anymore."_ Shukaku seemed to pout **"Buzzkill you never let me have any fun!"** he said before going deep in his mind to sulk.

Gaara stopped a couple of meters away from the men. "B-but how we tried to bend the sa-" "my sand is no ordinary sand," he told them "my sand is directly connected to me making it unbendable to anyone but myself," Gaara gave them a cold look "If I was the same person I was a month ago I would have killed all of you but as you can see I am not so I will let you live on one condition," Gaara glared at them "Never steal or try to hurt anyone again or I will find you and end your miserable lives." Gaara released the men causing them to scamper off. Gaara turned to face the creature they wre trying to smuggle and found himself licked by a giant tongue. Gaara flinched at the contact but gently petted the supposably gentle giant.

"You seem to have been out in the desert for a long time," Gaara said noting the small bits of stand stuck to the animals fur "are you firsty?" Gaara asked making a small bowl out of his sand before pouring some water on it. Gaara then layed it in front of the animal who drank quickly "Slowly," Gaara told the animal "You must savour it." The animal looked at him and seemed to nod before drinking much slowly. Gaara looked up and saw that the sun was starting to set. Living in the desert all his life Gaara knew it was about to get very cold. Gaaras gently grabbed the lead of the animal "Come it is getting dark and will be cold soon I believe I saw a cave a little away from here." Gaara led the animal to a cave large enough to fit both him and the animal. The animal once reaching the cave sat down and curled in a small bowl as Gaara got a small fire going. Gaara looked over at the animal and saw it was staring at him "Would you mind if I slept on your fur? it will be cold soon," Gaara asked wanting the animals permission first. The animal let out a small roar which Gaara assumed was a yes before it jumped up and wrapped around Gaara. Gaara gently ran his hand over the animals fur as it slept before staring out as look out. Gaara couldn't sleep because of Shukaku but he could at least be comfortable and warm it was going to be a long night after all.


	2. Chapter 2

The next day Gaara and the bison (as Shukaku had helpfully supplied) continued on their journey throughout the desert. Shukaku had been oddly quite this morning not that Gaara was complaining because any silence from him was usually pleasant. The desert heat barely affected Gaara but the bison seemed to be struggling because it began panting. Gaara gently rubbed the bison's nose "don't worry we will be out of the desert soon." Gaara was about to continue walking when a thought occurred to him. Quickly Gaara made a platform of sand and jumped onto it. Gaara then turned to the bison "stay here I will go on ahead and scout I will be back soon," Gaara was about to leave when he remembered the sand benders who had originally kidnapped the bison. With this in mind, Gaara gently covered the bison in sand not enough to suffocate it but enough to help it blend in with its surroundings. Gaara nodded at his work "this should prevent those 'sand benders' from acquiring you while I'm gone."

The bison roared in agreement as Gaara gently flew away in order to scout. Gaara scanned his surroundings hoping he could at least find a cave of some sort to rest for the night. After what seemed like hours of scanning he finally found something. Or someone. Out of nowhere a boy (most likely a monk given his bald head) flew towards him on what appeared to be some sort of glider. The boy didn't seem to know he was about to crash into him or didn't care because he made no move of changing direction.

Against his will, his sand immediately blocked the boy from crashing into him knocking the boy off his glider and sending him crashing to the desert floor. Springing into action Gaara caught the boy in his sand before he could hit the ground. As Gaara lowered the struggling boy to the ground a small group of people ran towards them. "Aang!" a brunette girl with tan skin and a blue dress called. The boy next to her probably her sibling considering the resemblance held a boomerang in his direction "Let him go right now!" Gaara nodded "As you wish," he said before dropping 'Aang' to the ground with a loud 'oof!'

As the boy's friends surrounded him he quickly used the time to try and make his getaway. "Hey wait up!" the brunette girl said running after him. Gaara came to a stop once more and gently dropped to the ground calling his sand back into his gourd once more. "Can I help you?" Gaara asked face blank. The girl rubbed her head awkwardly "uh actually yes you see we kind of lost our bison and we have no idea where were going do you think you can help us?" the girl asked. Before Gaara could reply the girl's brother dragged her into what appeared to be a group huddle.

"Katara what are you doing we don't even know this guy!" her brother hissed angrily. Katara frowned "What am I doing? what are you doing! I'm trying to be nice and ask for directions which you rudely interrupted," "She has a point Sokka," the shorter girl said, "Who asked you Toph!" Gaara sweatdropped " _They do realise I'm standing right here right?"_ While they were busy arguing Gaara took the time to analyse each member of the group. The taller girl had dark skin and dark brown hair in a braid with big blue eyes and a blue dress which was torn and dirty from walking around in the desert. She also carried a small container on her hip which contained water. The smaller girl, on the other hand, had short black hair and milky eyes probably due to blindness because Gaara doubted that she was a Hyuga. The girl was also wearing a green and white dress with no shoes.

The taller boy also had dark skin and brown hair which was tied in a ponytail with a blue shirt and shorts. he also appeared to be carrying two weapons one on his back and another on his hip. The last member of the gang was the one he had almost crashed into. The boy was bald with strange tattoos on his head and arms. **"Oh no!"** Shukaku whined. _"What is it?"_ Gaara asked Shukaku in his head. **"The brat with the arrow tattoos is the Avatar!"** _"Avatar?"_ Gaara asked once more not familiar with that term. **"Yeah, Avatars are known to keep the peace not to mention he's an Airbender now I'll never be able to go on a killing spree!"** Shukaku whined again. Gaara frowned _"Even if he wasn't the Avatar I still wouldn't let you now shut up I think they are almost done talking,"_ **"Oh Gaara! you used to be so much fun until that orange wearing brat got to you!"** Gaara's expression darkened _"Do not insult Naruto Uzumaki,"_ Gaara told him before cutting Shukaku off.

After his _lovely_ talk with Shukaku Gaara finally realised what Katara had said. _"Wait did she say-"_ Gaara took a step towards the group startling them "did you say Bison?" The avatar or Aang immediately stepped forward with a hopeful expression on his face "Yeah! our flying Bison! have you seen him?" Gaara blinked "does this bison have an arrow tattoo on his head too?" Aang grinned "Yeah! that's him! why? have you seen him!" Gaara nodded "yes I found him yesterday being smuggled by a group of sand benders and rescued him, why? is he yours?" Aang nodded a solemn expression on his face "Yeah he's mine we lost him a couple of days ago while we were in the Great Library," his expression immediately brightened "but you can take us to him right?"

Gaara nodded before making another platform of sand, this time, larger to fit the whole group. Gaara hopped on turning to face the shocked teenagers "are you coming?" Aang was the first one to snap out of it immediately jumping on before grinning at him "come on guys it's actually kinda comfy up here!" without another word the rest of them climbed on. Gaara started to move the sand in the direction of Appa. "So you're a sand bender right?" The girl Katara asked. Gaara nodded before looking down at her bag "and you are a water bender correct?" She nodded sheepishly "I take it you must feel really at home in this desert right?" the other girl Toph asked putting her feet up.

Gaara nodded again "Yes I actually grew up in a desert not this one but another one," Aang looked confused "if this isn't your home then why are you here?" Gaara winced "I... lost my home quite recently actually," Gaara said. It wasn't a complete lie because he did lose his home but not in the way they were probably assuming. Their expressions immediately darkened "It's okay the fire nation took my home too," Aang said placing a reassuring hand on Gaara's shoulder. Gaara nodded although he had no idea who these 'fire nation' people were he figured they were not good considering his companions expressions.

When they finally reached their destination Aang jumped right off and looked around hopefully before frowning. "Wheres A-" before Aang could finish a loud sneeze echoed and a large amount of sand flew up landing on Aang revealing Appa. Aang grinned jumping out of the sand pile before jumping on the bison's face. "Appa!" the bison let out a small roar before snuggling its owner. The rest of his friends joined in hugging the large mammal. Gaara turned to leave a solemn expression on his face. Although he had only had the bison a day he admits he had enjoyed the company.

He was about to start walking when Aang called out for him. Gaara turned to face him when he suddenly found himself in a large bear hug from the boy. Gaara froze not used to feeling such affection before. Aang pulled back a large grin on his face "thank you for finding and taking care of Appa!" he said grinning. Gaara nodded to shocked to speak. Aang had a thoughtful look on his face before it changed into a grin "hey how about you come with us!" Gaara stared at the boy shocked. "w-what?" he asked bewildered. Aang nodded "Yeah! I'm going to need all the help I can get to defeat the Fire Lord and I can sense your a powerful bender so pretty please?" Aang said with a puppy dog face at the end.

Gaara turned to look at the boy's friends and was shocked to find them with a thoughtful look. "This guy seems pretty tough," "The more people for the war the better," "Maybe he can even teach _me_ sand bending I'm tired of being blind in the desert!" They then turned to face him with hopeful expressions of their own. Gaara blinked before bowing with a slight smile "It would be my honor to join you Avatar Aang," Aang looked slightly shocked that he knew before smiling again and squeezing him in another hug as well "This is great! I'm so glad I made a new friend!." Gaara felt his lip twitch up once more at being called a friend.

"Wahoo Team Avatar has just gotten a new member!" Sokka called out loudly only to be scolded by his sister who then turned and smiled kindly at him"welcome to the group Gaara," she said smiling kindly. Toph walked up to him a grinned at him "Let's see what you got Sand man" Gaara felt his lip twitch up. Was this what it was like to have friends? _"Naruto,"_ Gaara thought as he saw Katara scold Toph for calling him names _"I finally understand what you mean."_


	3. Chapter 3

Gaara was calmly sitting on the ground leaning his back on Appa watching his new friends. They had finally exited the desert and were relaxing at a waterfall before continuing on their journey to Ba Sing Se to tell the Earth King about a solar eclipse which apparently leaves the fire benders without fire bending leaving them open for attacking. Gaara had to admit the plan was a good one however he highly doubted that the Earth King would listen to a bunch of kids about something as serious as this even if one of them is the Avatar. The only reason Gaara was ever taken seriously in his village was because he was the Kazekages son and holder of Shukaku.

Gaara sighed leaning his head into the soft fur of the bison. His siblings were probably wondering where he was right about now. He was due back three days ago. He wasn't sure if they were worried but he did know they would at least feel a small amount of concern on his whereabouts. Gaara stood up slightly stretching before walking over to Sokka who was going over scrolls frantically. Feeling his curious stare Sokka looked up slightly jumping when he saw Gaara. "oh hey Gaara why aren't you playing around with the others?" he asked not taking his eyes of the scrolls. "I'm not one for playing games besides water does not mix well with my 'bending'," Gaara told him while he sat down beside him.

Sokka nodded giving him a little glance "hey while you're here could you hand me that scroll over there? I would grab it myself but I'm well you know," he motioned down to the scrolls he was reading "busy." Gaara nodded getting up and grabbing the scroll before handing it to him. Sokka shot him a smile "thanks." The two sat in comfortable silence for a while until it was suddenly broken. "Waterbending Splash!" Katara cried out as she jumped off the top of the waterfall and into the river creating a large splash. Gaara quickly used his sand to protect him and Sokka as well as the ancient documents from the giant wall of water.

Sokka got up and looked angrily at his sister who had just emerged from the water "oh ancient scrolls from the Great library just splash some water on them Katara!" he said angrily before turning to Gaara with a look of gratitude "thank you Gaara, at least _someone_ here thought about it." Gaara nodded at his gratitude before staring glumly at his now muddy sand. Katara noticed his look smiling sheepishly "sorry Gaara," she said before pulling the water out of his sand. Gaara sighed with relief before calling his sand back into his gourd. He wasn't really in the mood for creating new sand.

"Greetings travellers!" a voice said causing them all to jump up and stare in the direction where the voice came from. Gaara's paranoid look softened when he saw a pregnant woman and what appeared to be her husband and daughter emerge. Everyone else seemed to settle as well at the sight of them. Gaara didn't let his guard down though knowing full well that looks could be deceiving. "Are you guys heading to Ba Sing Se too?"


End file.
